'Bigger stories than before'

The first stars have been named for the new episodes of Black Mirror to be made for Netflix.

The streaming service has ordered 12 episodes of Charlie Brooker’s dark comedy, expected to air later this year. Now it has confirmed the casting for one of the stories – but no other details of the plot.

British actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw – who played Martha Jones’s sister, Tish Jones in Doctor Who – will take one of the leads in the as-yet-untitled episode.

The 32-year-old was last year nominated for an Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in the title role of Nell Gwynn at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. Her other credits include Concussion, Larry Crowne – and the next Star Wars film.

She will appear alongside Canadian actress Mackenzie Davis, who was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for her role in the 2013 romcom The F Word, and who plays NASA engineer Mindy Park the Matt Damon film, The Martian.

The new Black Mirror episode will be directed by Owen Harris, who also helmed the 2011 TV special Holy Flying Circus, about the outrage sparked by Monty Python’s Life Of Brian. He also directed the 2013 episode of Black Mirror, Be Right Back, about an online service that lets grieving relatives communicate with virtual reality versions of the dead – including robotic clones.

Brooker will be writing the new episode and executive producing it alongside his partner in the House Of Tomorrow production house, Annabel Jones.

Black Mirror will premiere on Netflix in all territories outside the UK and Ireland, where plans are still being determined, as the show was originally developed for Channel 4.

Brooker has called Netflix 'the most fitting platform imaginable' for the show, saying: 'Netflix connects us with a global audience so that we can create bigger, stranger, more international and diverse stories than before, while maintaining that Black Mirror feel,' he said. 'I just hope none of these new story ideas come true.'

Meanwhile, Netflix has also announced the global launch date of the second series of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt – April 15.

Stars Ellie Kemper, Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess and Carol Kane will all be returning for the second season of the show about a former cult hostage trying to make a new start in New York.

And Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin's comedy Grace and Frankie will return on Friday, May 6.

Published: 18 Jan 2016